Monitor free fertilizer distribution - Chief Farmer

Mr. Daniel Agyei, Society Chief Farmer at Amponsaso in the Mpohor Wassa East District, has appealed to government to set up a monitoring team that would supervise the distribution of free fertilizers to cocoa farmers, to check diversion and stealing,

He said the government free-fertilizer programme was a laudable effort, and therefore warned against but alleged diversion by some distributors into individual shops for sale to the public.

Mr. Agyei made the appealed at a meeting with some society chief farmers drawn from Twifo Praso,Twifo Hemang, Assin Foso and Amponsaso at Efutu in the Cape Coast Municipality.

He suggested that conditions for the distribution of the fertilizers should be made favourable to peasant cocoa farmer whose cocoa farms were not up to five acres.

The chief farmer said Agriculture Extension Officers who were having difficulties in managing large size of farms, would have additional responsibility to inspect and measure farms for free-fertilizer allocation.

He suggested that the fertilizers should be subsidized and made available to all manner of farmers to buy to maintain their farms.

In another development, Mr. Kofi Dankwa, a cocoa farmer at Assin Foso Aboabo Camp, cautioned officers against the collection of bribes before allocating the fertilizers to the farmers.